It can't be a good thing to lose the guy who runs your politics coverage a month ahead of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

But that is precisely the situation the Daily News now finds itself in.

Ian Bishop, managing editor for politics at the News, is no longer with the paper as of yesterday, Capital has learned.

Attempts to reach Bishop for comment were unsuccessful. But the story circulating is that he and editor-in-chief Colin Myler had been butting heads over coverage, which ultimately led to Bishop's dismissal yesterday.

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"The Daily News does not comment on personnel matters," said a spokesman.

Insiders, meanwhile, sounded rather pessimistic about the departure.

"For this to happen right before the conventions is major," said one. "It's a big loss."

Ironically, this isn't the first time Bishop's convention plans were thwarted. On the eve of the two presidential nominating extravaganzas in 2008, he was suspended for two weeks "after tossing a telephone at another editor's office, shattering a glass wall," as the New York Post's Keith Kelly reported at the time.

The News has a big hire to announce, too: As we reporter earlier this morning, Alexander Hitchen, a long-time National Enquirer reporter who broke the John Edwards scandal wide open, is joining the paper to head up its photo coverage